Is Chavez Showing World His True Colors?

JOSEPH MANN Business Writer

November 30, 2002|JOSEPH MANN Business Writer

The true nature of a leader sometimes becomes apparent only in the midst of a crisis.

Sadly, it is Venezuela, now in the grips of an explosive confrontation between supporters and opponents of democratically elected President Hugo ChM-avez, that offers the world this opportunity as the former army officer increasingly assumes near-dictatorial powers while simultaneously proclaiming his firm commitment to democracy.

ChM-avez, who frequently professes great admiration for Fidel Castro, has generated widespread opposition, even among many Venezuelans who originally voted for him, by advancing a communist-style "revolution," arming bands of slum residents to support his regime, assailing businessmen and others who disagree with him and pushing this oil-exporting republic into a deep recession.

After months of massive street protests and strikes against ChM-avez, all aimed at convincing the former army officer to resign and call new national elections, the country's leading opposition force, made up of civilians, former military officers, unions and businessmen, recently called for a national strike for Monday, suggesting that they are willing to prolong the protest until the president meets their demands.

If anyone had doubts that ChM-avez was a dictator hiding behind the mask of a democratic leader, they should take a look at some of the statements made by the president and two of his top officials in response to this challenge from the opposition.

The president warned that any effort to overthrow his government -- by which he meant the upcoming strike -- would be "crushed by the people and the armed forces."

Vice President JosM-i Vicente Rangel called any proposed strike "criminal" and "a deliberate act of terrorism against the people." ChM-avez's Labor Minister, MarM-ma Cristina Iglesias, also called the strike organizers "terrorists" and accused them of trying to incite a military rebellion.

Now let's remember that the Venezuelan Constitution, which ChM-avez is fond of waving around in public while justifying his increasingly unpopular decisions, gives the president's opponents the right to free speech, to hold a referendum, to assemble in public and to protest.

But these harsh and thinly disguised warnings indicate that ChM-avez's "revolutionary" government will stop at nothing to silence the opposition. They came in the wake of the president's order to illegally take over the Caracas metropolitan police, which has tried to protect anti-ChM-avez protesters from government-armed thugs; the intimidating use of troops in the capital to discourage opposition marches; the firebombing of a television station critical of the government (presumably carried out by "friends" of the regime); street battles between opposition groups and heavily armed troops, and efforts by the government to stall ongoing negotiations with the Organization of American States, manipulate the elections law and block any referendum.

In a recent edition of El Universal, a leading Caracas newspaper, columnist Juan MartM-mn EcheverrM-ma eloquently summed up the situation. "The Constitution doesn't matter much" to the government, said EcheverrM-ma, an attorney who defended Pedro Carmona, the businessman who briefly took over as president in April during an unsuccessful attempt to remove ChM-avez. To the ChM-avez regime, "the self-styled revolution is more important than the Constitution," he added.

EcheverrM-ma, a former minister of justice, warned that the government's recent words and actions, far from being acts of "irrationality," formed part of "a self-styled revolution," which plans to create a situation whereby the president can declare a state of emergency and rule Venezuela without any interference.

While the president and his supporters reject this notion, many Venezuelans and foreign observers of the country believe this is precisely what is happening.

Joseph Mann is a business reporter at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Previously, he was the Venezuela correspondent for the Financial Times of London. He was a co-founder of the VenEconomia group of news and analytical reports published in Caracas. He can be reached at jmann@sun-sentinel.com.